Dallas Cowboys vs Seahawks PG3: Game Notes and Standouts
By Reid Hanson
The Dallas Cowboys faced the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday for their season’s unofficial dress rehearsal. Here is who and what stood out…
The Dallas Cowboys have plenty to be excited for three games into the preseason. The defense, while troubled, isn’t as bad as it could be. The offense, even without it’s captain in Romo, was dominant.
Obviously, leading all discussion is the near-injury to Tony Romo. Romo, against Sport DFW advice, played a pointless preseason game, subjecting himself to injury. Luckily, what initially looked catastrophic, turned out to be a minor injury. Regardless, the Dallas Cowboys dodged a bullet and gave their shiny new rookie another 1st team test drive.
A week after praising
for his versatility, Wilber delivers a very suspect performance. He missed tackles and was all-too-easily blocked. Wilber’s tweener status gives him extra opportunities but it hurts him in effectiveness since he’s too small to beat linemen and too big to keep up with skill players.
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Nice to see the Cowboys manhandle the top-ranked run defense of Seattle. Rookie Ezekiel Elliott had his way with the starting Seattle defense. It’s always good to see your strength beat an opponent’s strength but it’s especially good to see it when it happens against your pick to win the Super Bowl (Spoiler Alert: Seattle is my preseason Super Bowl pick).
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- The defensive line was creative in stunting but the secondary wasn’t disguising a thing. In camp, Rod Marinelli had the defense disguising its coverage often but in preseason games it’s looking pretty transparent. This is probably a preseason strategy and not a sign of things to come.
- Anthony Hitchens looked a step slow. He’s not expected to replace Rolando McClain by himself but he needs to play better than what he did on Thursday
- Morris Claiborne had one missed tackle and two dropped interceptions. These were all significant missed opportunities that could easily change the fortune of the game. One drop was understandable (very difficult play) but the other needs to happen.
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- The TD pass that Mo gave up was perhaps his best coverage of the night. He was perfect. Russell Wilson’s pass was just a little more perfect. Perfection always goes to the offense.
- Geoff Swaim is making his block quickly and with great hand placement but he’s struggling a bit with sustaining his blocks. James Hanna excels in this so it’s something Swaim will have to correct since he’ll likely be Hanna’s replacement at the start of the season.
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- Doug Free had a very tough day in both pass protection and run blocking. He graded out even worse than Chaz Green, the expected swing tackle.
- I love Jack Crawford as a rotational DE but I hate him as a fulltime DE or anytime DT. As a rotational end he’s high-energy, shifty, and impactful. As a DT he’s overmatched and a run liability.
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Lots of things to be excited about and worried about. The Dallas Cowboys dominated in the running game against the most dominant run-stopping team in the NFL. The Cowboys defense was poor but not epically terrible – which is what it looks like on paper. Best yet, the Cowboys seem to have a good mindset and ambition entering the 2016 season.
Kyle Wilber